Plastic Tree - Ink + Hide and Seek (rebuild)

[Pandabear 414]

With ammonite I feel the band struck a good balance of styles they had previously explored and were exploring. It marked a return to their more shoegaze material, while still retaining their more recent dreamy pop sound and remained faithful to their alternative rock side. For me Ink sounds like a logical progression from ammonite.

Rorschach (Left) starts off the album and is s whimsical introduction with Ryutaro’s whispered vocals and an acoustic guitar. Ink really kicks things off with Pura’s signature shoegaze rock sound. It’s big, its catchy and it just oozes awesomeness. Kuchizuke follows and it might be a more mid tempo song, but there’s a lot of atmosphere and it really sells the ethereal dream-pop sound. Piano Black still has that ethereal sound thanks in part to Ryutaros vocals, but with the hurried drumming and the obvious chiptune electronica influence, is a bit more daring and experimental. Avante Garde is probably the fastest song in terms of tempo, but what really shines here is the drumming. The beats swiftly change rhythms and there’s even some short lived double bass drumming and blast beats.

Life Is Beautiful is the only track on this album I didn’t really care for. The chorus which has awful vocals just totally killed it for me. They’re just really bad, on purpose no less, which I guess was the band’s attempt at being silly. But there’s nothing silly about this track. Funny thing is the rest of the song is pretty good. The rest of the songs shape up to be Pura tastiness. They sound like the band, with the ethereal vocals, akira’s solos, some acoustic guitars and the traditional shoegaze goodness. Something that’s apparent on songs like Butterfly or even the instrumental 96Bars. Long Absence.

Standout things to mention about the album is again the drumming and the sound production, which sounds much different than their recent releases. It’s cleaner, more sparkly and I think it might have to do with the mixing. Love how I can feel like Tadashi’s bass is right in the room with me at times. I consider this another successful Plastic Tree release.

8.5/10

[Augie1995 325]

I used to love Plastic Tree so much. I remember how much I love Moonlight single but once the ammonite album came out, I wasn't even able to get through it. Didn't care much for シオン, but once I heard くちずけ, I fell back in love. This album truly brought out my love for them again, some really great songs on here. My favorites being あバンギャルど, てふてふ, and ピアノブラック. 9/10

I have a question if someone can PM the answer. Is the characterization of Avant Guarde correct? あバンギャルど？if so, does anyone know why the first and last characters are in hiragana while the other letters were written in katakana?

[r... 720]

It is correct, but it's probably a play on words too, because バンギャル = bangyaru

I didn't check the lyrics yet but maybe it has something to do with it. I hope it IS about bangyarus tho, it would be hilarious.

[Pandabear 414]

Made an amendment to include the Hide and Seek rebuild version, which is incredible. I think there’s something in there for plastic tree fans who enjoy both their old and new sound and for people who have never heard of this band. It’s just amazing. The tracks are reworked in the bands current shoegaze/dream-pop/rock direction, with a modern sound production, but they still retain what made them great songs many years back. Some tracks maybe shorter, other longer, but the rebuilds versions are all for the better. I think that Hide and Seek rebuild is actually stronger than ink, so I would give it a 9/10.

And props to the band for being able to put out another great original album like ink and still have time to rework Hide and Seek in the awesome way they did.

[sai 868]

I am not going to review the Hide and Seek rebuild, seeing as I did not listen to it/am not planning on listening to it, so I'll just post my short thoughts on Ink itself. This'll just be a short unprofessional review as I don't feel like writing a wall of text (I am not a big Plastic Tree fan, so there).

Ink started off really well for me, the intro plus the three/four tracks that followed all had their own unique sound and had something that made them stand out on their own. I am especially fond of くちずけ, which was a new track for me seeing as I didn't listen to the singles for this album. The piano in the background is simply beautiful. After the few good tracks I figured this was going to be a pretty good album. That's when the second half kicked in.

I think the second half was incredibly boring and stale. I listened to the album twice and I honestly can't remember anything of the second half of the album. I can't even get through it completely most of the time because it just bores me out of my skull. I think I am giving this album a 6/10. The first half is great, but what comes after just is so inferior to that first half that the album can't be saved anymore. Try again next time, guys.